Biological Institutions 59 



flint the woolly rhinoceros, the mammoth, mastodon and royal 

 bison, which roamed the world when the glaciers held much 

 of the northern hemisphere within their grasp. 



But the mere exhibition of nature 's wonders is by no means 

 the only, or even the primary function of .the American 

 Museum. The discovery of her workings and her secrets is 

 fundamental to their demonstration in its halls. And so 

 with the gathering of material for its exhibits has gone hand 

 in hand the gathering and publication of information relative 

 thereto, much of which is rehearsed in other chapters of this 

 book. The spread of knowledge through research, publica- 

 tion and exhibition is the comprehensive function of every 

 museum. As further illustration of this function is the work 

 of the public health department of the Museum, whose pur- 

 pose can best be stated in the words of its curator. Its plan 

 is to " present a fairly comprehensive picture of the life of 

 man as an animal, his place in the general scheme of natural 

 history, his relations to his geographical and meteorological 

 surroundings, the parasites which cause his diseases, and the 

 animals and plants which serve him for food and clothing. 

 The plan . . . giving a survey of the cycle of human life, its 

 dangers and its safeguards, complete enough to satisfy the 

 curiosity of the ordinary man and to teach him what he needs 

 to know in order to keep sound and well, is an extensive 

 one. . . . " 'In partial fulfilment of this plan the department 

 has installed exhibits of the disposal of sewage and garbage, 

 the water supply of cities, its relation to rainfall and the 

 ways of safeguarding it from pollution; the composition of 

 water and the microscopic organisms which it contains. Some 

 of the exhibits in this department are a series of models 

 of different sorts of bacteria, models of insect carriers of 

 disease, the flea, louse, yellow fever mosquito and the house- 

 fly. The mosquito exhibit shows among other things the 

 condition of the French hospitals in Panama, as compared 

 with those installed by the Americans, the life history of 

 mosquitoes and methods of combating them by oiling, drain- 

 age, fumigation, etc. The department also maintains a grow- 

 ing collection of living bacteria including hundreds of 

 different varieties, from which were sent out in 1918 over 

 3,000 cultures free of charge to laboratories throughout the 

 country. 



During the Great War the Museum aided in the food con- 

 servation movement by the preparation of a food exhibit 

 illustrating the character of food, its use in human metabolism, 

 the adjustment of the daily ration to meet the increasing cost 

 of living, and showing some new and as yet little used sources 

 of food, such as seaweeds, snails, mussels, cuttle fish, etc. 



